Tokyo to Takayama

In the spare few hours we had before our planned departure from Tokyo, we headed off to Harajuku at 7.00am on a hot, sticky and humid Sunday morning.

Harajuku is known for attracting young trendy teenagers and with plenty of funky fashion stores lining Takeshita-dori, it many ways it reminded me of Camden Town in London.


Crepe shops are particularly popular in the Harajuku area -- I'm still not sure why there are so many here, although the constant stream of female teenagers probably has something to do with it...


I spent several minutes checking out this display -- for research purposes only of course! For a cuisine which doesn't use a lot of cream, the excessive dairy on their desserts was quite bizarre.


We didn't realise how hard it would be to find a traditional Japanese breakfast in Harajuku until we'd been wandering hungrily for over an hour. Plenty of touristy food (ham and cheese crossiants, pastries and American-style pancake breakfasts) but we wanted clean, fresh, soul-refreshing Japanese!

Finally we found a franchise outlet which offered traditional meals. The salmon was very tender and moist and the stir-fried pork with onion was sweet but satisfying.



But all too soon we had to head back to the hotel to check out and make our way to Takayama. Living out of a backpack was still bearable at this stage, and yet to become tedious and frustrating!



Whilst waiting for the train we watched an army of pink cleaning ladies emerge from a stopped train, flow down the stairs and seemingly disappear before our eyes. The second time it happened we realised they were stooping down into a tiny doorway on the side of the stairwell. The door couldn't have been more than a metre in height, and the women slipped away so quietly and effortlessly, it was like you dreamed the whole thing...



With time to kill at Nagoya Station for a connecting train, we wandered about the underground shops where I took this pic of an Italian sandwich deli. The Japanese have got to be the most hygienically-conscious peoples in the world!


Our journey on the shinkansen, or bullet train was--like everything in Japan--smooth and efficient. We arrived in Takayama at about 8pm at night, and although tired and replete, we were immediately re-energised upon catching sight of our ryokan, or traditional inn. A huge atrium foyer with a soaring ceiling of enormous rought-hewn timber beams greeted us. Escorted to our bedrooms, we slid back the screen doors and were delighted to find tatami mats, futon mattresses, and rice paper screens which opened onto a gorgeous little sunroom.



We were told to hurry down to dinner as it was waiting to be served. Slid back the dining room doors and two rows of low rosewood tables beckoned us with understated yet glamorous simplicity...


This could not get any better... until dinner was served, and once again, our joy was eclipsed. Our hosts, dressed immacuately in kimono, served dish after dish of unbridled gastronomic splendour. Our tastebuds awoke with a frenzy, our digestive tracts accelerated into overdrive. There was so much food and it was all so good!


From the array of dishes (which kept continuing to arrive) on my laquered tray, I began with the edamame (salted soy beans), shiitake mushrooms and soy fish. The dried baby fish had been fried again with a sticky sweet soy sauce--very more-ish!


The sashimi plate was so beautifully arranged one did not want to eat it! The (king?)fish had been delicately packaged in seaweed and beancurd sheets. The rose was actually made up of layers of achingly fresh raw squid. Clean fresh tastes danced on the palate.


This tiny-sized fish had been deep-fried--I found it a little bitter, but wasn't sure if a gall bladder had burst somehow and affected the flavour.


Mushrooms in a light yet creamy sauce.


Individually serving us bowls of gohan (fluffy white rice) and ocha (hot green tea) made us feel like royalty.


Almost every meal in this ryokan featured a DIY hotpot burner in the top right-hand corner of our tray. Like kids on Christmas morning, we would all peek underneath the lid to see what goodies lay in wait. Once we were all present, the hostess would shuffle and kneel before each person to light the candle underneath. Before long the room would be filled with wafting smells of simmering meat and vegetables in stock, increasing in intensity as lids were lifted with growing curiosity.

This hotpot featured thin slices of tender beef, meaty Swiss brown mushrooms and carrots in a miso flavoured stock.


The tempura here would continually be the highlight of every dinner. Draped delicately in crisp, light, fluffy batter, the presentation and use of ingredients was always impeccable. We had mild green chilli, sweet potato and pumpkin pieces. The colourful piece at the back/bottom was ebi (prawn) coated in what tasted and looked like square rice crispies. Extra crunch and flavour! An accompanying dish of salt and pepper added extra zing.

Hot steaming bowls of soup (with matching lids) were also individually served. This soup had small fluffy fishballs and a knot of rehydrated dried vegetable. Japanese soups are always clear, and they helped to cleanse the stomach and palate.


Lifting the roof off our rustic-looking wooden "house" on our tray revealed a bowl of cold green soba noodles, mixed through with sinus-clearing balls of wasabi. A small dish of finely chopped spring onion added a pleasing freshness to the dish, but unfortunately did nothing to expand the capacity of our bloated stomachs (I didn't even take photos of the steamed rice and pickles)!


Finally an end came in sight. Dessert was light (thank goodness) and consisted of a subtle milk jelly in a green sauce with a wedge of melon. One couldn't really detect any particular flavours at all, which was just as well as our stomachs were about to give out.

We were told that this ryokan served the best food on the tour, and things would only go downhill from here. We had only just arrived and yet I missed the place already!